Criticism of Hungary's media controls keeps growing

"Klubrádió solely wants to provide news and present
different opinions and never meant to play any emblematic role. But, because of
the decision of the Media Authority, it has became the symbol of free speech in
Hungary," stated the broadcaster's CEO, András Arató, on Sunday when addressing
thousands of demonstrators who gathered in central Budapest to express their support
for the station. Once this popular talk radio broadcaster loses its frequency license (which was reallocated to a previously unknown
media group that tendered a higher price) in a matter of weeks, pro-government
dominance will be nearly complete in terms of broadcast news programs in the
country.

Since the conservative
Hungarian Civic Union, or Fidesz, came to power with a super-majority in
parliament in 2010, media freedom in the country has gradually deteriorated. As
a delegation of 12 international free speech and media development NGOs concluded in Budapest in November, the confluence of a
restrictive regulatory environment, deteriorating economic conditions,
technological change, and a lack of solidarity among professionals created a
perfect storm and put independent media in danger. The participants of the
mission, which was organized by the South East European Network for Professionalization of Media, also emphasized that the broad, uncertain,
and inconsistent provisions of the new Hungarian laws created a chilling effect and strengthened
self-censorship among journalists. (The key findings of the mission can be
found here, and excerpts
from the delegation's press conference can be watched here.)

State media outlets
are under firm control in Hungary. The state Hungarian News Agency, MTI, provides most of its services to media organizations free of
charge. This suppresses competition in the news market, resulting in a kind of
copy-and-paste journalism, especially at smaller media outlets with limited
resources. The state radio and television stations predominantly echo official
viewpoints. The most striking case occurred when the image of the former chief
justice was blurred in a December TV news show because previously he had
expressed criticism toward the government. This incident led to a hunger strike by a group of trade union activists and
producers, and a movement for honest public service broadcasting was launched.
Their demands practically have been ignored by the omnipotent Media Authority.

Though Hungary has two
popular commercial television stations, which are independent of direct
political influence, their news shows are rather sensationalist and seldom
provide the context of political and social events. Print media outlets have
never fully recovered after the 2008 financial crisis, and political papers
either stagnate or keep losing readers. Mostly due to the growing importance of
online portals, media pluralism still exists in the country, but the space for
public discussion has significantly narrowed and it is becoming increasingly
difficult for citizens to receive unbiased, in-depth information about issues
of public interest.

At the same time, two
recent positive developments need to be mentioned. Upon the initiative of the Center for Independent Journalism, the Editors' Forum was launched in Budapest last
week. This new association brings together over 30 media organizations and
promotes the practice of ethical journalism. The participating organizations
have committed to a set of ethnical guidelines and pledged to defend media freedom.

Furthermore, the late
December ruling of the Constitutional Court about the media law had some favorable outcome. The Court annulled the provision limiting
protection of journalistic sources and took written media content out of the
scope of the regulation with effect from May 31, 2012. The decision, however,
failed to address other key issues, including the vague definitions of content
restrictions and the political influence over the regulatory Media Council and
public service media outlets. Thus, as the human rights and free expression
representatives of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe,
the Council of Europe and the United Nations have already stated, a wholesale review of Hungarian media
regulation is still necessary.

Alongside the media
legislation, dozens of other controversial laws and a new constitution were
pushed through the parliament -- without the proper public debate -- by the
populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his party. This raised serious
concerns both in the U.S. government and the European Commission. In late
December, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed her criticisms in a
letter addressed to Orbán about the elimination of
checks and balances in Hungary.

Then, last Tuesday,
the European Commission launched legal proceedings against Hungary, a European Union member state
since 2004, because of the recently adopted laws on the central bank, the
judiciary, and the data protection and access to information authority. Wednesday,
the Hungarian media situation will be discussed in Brussels at the meeting of the Commission's
High-Level Group examining what media pluralism and freedom mean in practice.

It will be
increasingly difficult for the Hungarian government to ignore critical voices
coming from the international community, especially because the country's
economy has been mismanaged, the state debt is now downgraded to junk by
ratings agencies, and in order to stabilize the situation the country needs to
reach a deal with the EU and the International Monetary Fund on a new standby
loan worth up to 20 billion euros.

In the recently
published report on 'Freedom in the World 2012,' Freedom House emphasizes that Hungary poses
the most serious problem in Central Europe because press freedom and political
pluralism are under threat. In this situation, human rights and free speech
advocates need to watch even more closely what is going on in the country and
make sure that their findings reach both the civil society actors and the decision
makers in Budapest, Brussels and Washington.